AU(Hit Man by Lawrence Block)
Reese & Finch, Root/Shaw
When Reese took Bear back to the apartment, the phone justsounded. Reese pressed the answer button, and the signal came from Kara,”Hello, lover, Mark missed you. You’d better come to Yonkers for a while.”
“Okay.”
After Reese hung up Kara’s phone, he dialed another number,”Hi, Finch, this is John Reese, I’m going out of town this afternoon, it maytake one or two weeks. I hope that you can come over to take care of Bear forthese days.”
“No problem, Mr. Reese, I will go there this afternoon.”
Reese had left when Finch arrived at his apartment. There’san envelope placed on the table next to the door. ”Finch” was written in boldletters on the envelope, and a thick piece of cash was in the envelope. Bearshould be turning around the table for a while, now he rushed to Finch happilyas soon as he saw him.
“Good boy, Bear.”
Harold Finch, who was hired by Reese two months ago to walkhis dog, yes, walking the dog.
Reese’s work is generally not busy, but he always goes outof town from time to time, perhaps across the ocean by flight. He hasn’t had adog before, but he has to take of Bear since he brought him back. However,Reese cannot take care of Bear when he is at work. Two months ago, Reese wentto Indiana for business, he sent Bear to a dog hotel, when he was back, hefound Bear suffered a lot, from that time on, Reese made up his mind that hewouldn’t make Bear unhappy like that again.
Finch advertised on the web to find a job, "walking thedog, watering the flowers, responsible professionals to do it for you",yes, Harold Finch is the middle-aged invisible rich man who gets bored to regular things and wantsto treat his social phobia. In the end, he came up with such a good idea ofwatering the flowers and walking the dog, do not need directly facing thecustomers, as long as looking after the customers’ cats, dogs and plants whenthey are out or inconvenient, what a great start!
However, what Finch didn’t expect is that offering theservice of watering flowers and walking dogs is quite a competition. He didn’tfind the right employer at first. You know the employers usually preferred someyoung and energetic girls instead of him, a middle-aged cripple. “oh, dear,your leg seems not convenient, Petty sometimes is too crazy for you to walk.”
It doesn’t work for a few times. Until two months ago, Finchreceived a call from Reese. The voice on the phone was low and slightly hoarse,anyway, it was a very charming male voice, asking, ”Harold Finch?”
“Yes, sir. “
“Mr. Finch, I read your resume on the website. Do you stilloffer the service of walking the dog?”
“Yes, of course, of course.”
Finch was nervous when he first met with Reese and Bear. Itwasn’t because of his social fears, but that Reese and Bear were both a bit notin his imagination. Bear is an adult Belgian Malinois, very vigilant, notfriendly to strangers. As to Reese, at the beginning, Finch even did not knowhow to describe Reese, silent and cold, a handsome man in dangerous occupations?
Finch noticed the dangerous trait of Reese, which almostmade him a bee in his bonnet, “oh, God, he might be a killer.”
"Bear, gann zitten." Reese was gaving orders toBear. When the dog sat quietly, he turned around and said to Finch, "Mr.Finch, I saw your gardening certificate on the web, but I have no flowers to be watered, what you need to do is only taking care of Bear. Besides he will get areal bad temper when being hungry, in general, Bear is a good dog. He canunderstand English, but if you want to give him orders, you have to speakDutch."
“Dutch? I learned it when I was in college. Lucky me, Ithink I haven’t forgotten it all."
"That sounds good," Reese nodded with a faintsmile showing on his face, which made Finch even more nervous. God, it seemedthat he wanted this job too much, or Said that his social phobia was moreserious.
They went to walk the dog together that afternoon. Reesethought that Finch had to get familiar with Bear as soon as possible, so theyhad an agreement that Finch would take a walk with Bear on Wednesday morningand Friday afternoon, each time for one hour, by doing this Finch can earn $100a week. And If Reese is out of town, Finch has to take care of Bear's dailylife, for $100 a day.
The price was very good, in fact much higher than thosegeneral in market. Finch expressed his gratitude at the time, but Reese apparentlydid not take it as something important, "Bear looks to like you,Finch."
Reese is a man of few words. In fact, he didn’t have muchcommunication with Finch, except for the first time he went to walk the dogwith him. However, that was enough for Finch. Finch had to admit that he wasinexplicably nervous when he faced Mr. Reese, which he would blame to they are beingunfamiliar. But when he saw in the park, there were always ladies who cameforward to Mr. Handsome, after Bear’s name, he would unconsciously take a sighof relief, “Who knows, Mr. Handsome chose a middle-aged cripple to walk the dogfor himself, instead of preferring young girls like most of the employers. Itprobably implies that he does not want to be involved in any love affairs."
Reese certainly does not want to be involved in any loveaffairs, which is because of his profession, on the other hand is because ofJessica.
Regarding Jessica, it was a long and sad story. As for Reese’sprofession, yes, Mr. Finch's intuition was correct, Reese is a killer, a professionalcontract killer.
Reese called a taxi to the train station and took the trainto Yonkers.
Mark Snow bought a beautiful house in Yonkers. In the pasttwo years, he was getting so bald to become more and more disliked to appear inthe city. He stayed in the house of Yonkers all day long and seemed to havefound himself kind of psychological compensation. When Reese arrived, Kara wasalready sitting in Mark's beautiful courtyard. She was said to have stoppeddrinking, and now she drinks tea.
"Would you like a cup of tea, lover?"
"No, thanks, coffee is fine for me."
"What about your wonder dog? You should bring him here,Mark may be willing to look after him."
"I don't think it's necessary. Someone is looking afterhim already."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes," Reese answered very quickly. He didn't seemto be willing to talk with Kara about this topic, and Kara didn't ask much more,"Mark is upstairs. He waited for you for a while. Listen, if you want, Ithink I can go with you this time."
Reese went upstairs to talk to Snow for about twentyminutes. When he came down, Kara poured herself another cup of ice tea."What would you say?"
"I can do it by myself, Kara, I think your back officework is equally outstanding."
"Well, John, remember to bring me next time."
"No problem, for the next time."
In the evening, Reese took a Lufthansa flight to Vienna atJFK and stopped by in Frankfurt. In Frankfurt, two girls came up on the flight,with their seats in the front row of Reese. Girls now were lifting their luggageto the luggage rack. However, there seemed to be some contradiction betweenthem. The tall girl approached Reese who was sitting in the back row. Shelowered her body and showed a nearly deliberate smile. "Mr, can you pleasedo a little help? This suitcase is a bit heavy."
It is of course no problem to help. Reese stood up and justgot ready to lift the suitcase, but someone was faster than him. The short girlwas so quick lifting the luggage to the luggage rack that no one seems to seewhere she came.
"This is not heavy at all, Samantha."
Then the tall girl named Samantha said to Reese with a bitembarrassment, "I am sorry, sir."
Reese shrugged and showed that he would not care for this.
Throughout the flight, the girls in the front row hadn’t stoptheir small complaints to each other. It was heard that the short girl’s name wasSameen. She was very dissatisfied with the decision that her companion suddenlywanted to go to Vienna, “ Come on, Samantha, the old fat guy was no more thancheating you some money, you don’t need to chase him around the world like astalker. What do you want to do, wasting your life? You know that I still have36 patients on my waiting list in New York.”
OK, this is a couple, Reese assured for this, afterlistening to the nearly two hours’ flirting between them.
After the plane arrived, someone at the airport exit washolding a sign to pick Mr. John Keller from New York. Reese knew that he was topick him up. The guy handed him an envelope with two credit cards and a photoof the target, along with a car key. Very well, even a car has been alreadyrented.
"Frank Fudleyman and his mistress will stay atInterContinental, their room number is 0323, booked for two weeks, I think youknow what to do for the rest, um, I mean, you are the professions."
Reese nodded. He took the envelope and the key, drove fromSchwechat Airport to the InterContinental Hotel, and then stayed in.
Everything went well, except at the Hotel reception, he raninto the girl couple that kept complaining and flirting on the flight.
"Hi, Mr. ..."
"Keller, John Keller."
"Oh, Mr. Keller, it’s so happy to meet you again."The girl named Samantha was a little bit too enthusiastic. Reese determinedthat the little contradiction between her and her Sameen hadn’t been fixed.However, Reese was not interested in being as an impromptu prop between a youngcouple with love issues. The killer showed a dangerous smile, "ButSamantha, I am pretty sure that your girlfriend will not be very happy."
The girls were no more than an irrelevant episode. Reesewent to his room and took a hot bath after travelling across the continent. Ahot bath would do something good to his bad feelings caused by jet lag, andthen reminded him of his old days, taking orders, running around the world, aswell as executing people. And, there isno better in nowadays, but at least he has had a dog.
Well, Reese suddenly thought of his dog Bear before he had fallenasleep on the pillow. God knows that how much he wanted to call Bear at thistime. He was sure that Bear would be waiting at the phone.
“Oh, come on, benormal, John."
Reese slept for almost two hours, and when he got up, hejust caught up with dinner. He saw Fudleyman, the target, in the hotel's steakhouse, and of course along with his mistress. Fudleyman was a fat old man witha strong body as well as a big head. He had a prominent eyebrow, with a lot offlesh in his face. The old man's gold-gray hair combed backwards, but the hairdoes not suit for his head, which made him looking like a clownish old lion.His mistress was petite, had a beautiful face full of exotic flavors, her greeneyes were flickering, seemingly innocent.
Reese's original plan did not take into account the mistress.He would not mind the "kill one get one free" business, if thingsgoes to that direction. While after thedinner, the killer had some changes in his mind, perhaps he need to find anoccasion that the mistress would not be there.
Reese got up and left the steak house after dinner, andunexpectedly met with Samantha and Sameen. This time Samantha still had an annoyingenthusiasm for Reese, while Sameen immersed herself in her steak, then raisedher head and revealed a dissatisfaction to Reese. Reese laughed, he regrettedthat he hadn’t accept Kara's kindness of asking to come together, if that, heat least wouldn't have to be treated as a jealous and provocative prop bylovers.
However, Reese realized another thing. On the plane, heheard Sameen mentioned that Samantha was chasing a fat old guy all over theworld. Looking back, the position where the tall girl sited was indeed a goodperspective for observing the fat old guy, Fudleyman. Um, the fat old guy, he willsurely be Fudleyman.
After Reese returned to his room, he need not only to figureout how to make the mistress not showing up, but also to ensure that the girlcouple won’t interrupt any of the things. The “kill one get one free” can stillbe accept, however, it is too much for “kill one get three free”.
Samantha, the hacker known as Root called to New York in abad mood, to her Uncle Harold, who was a computer genius and invisiblebillionaire, after she saw the fat old man Fudleyman, who deceived her a lot ofmoney, travelling happily with his mistress in Europe.
"Hi, Harold, are there in the morning in New York? I amin Vienna, Europe. Fudleyman, the old villain is damn happy now, I swear Inever felt so much wanting to find a way to swindle my money back from him."
“Samantha? Are you still tracking that Fudleyman?” Harold’svoice came from the phone with an apparent disagreement for what Samantha wasdoing, then followed by a dog barking on the phone.
“Bear, Hou op.” Finch ordered.
Yes, the hacker Root's uncle is Harold Finch. Now Finch wasbusy feeding Bear foods, which surprised Root at the other end of the phone, "Harold,are you really doing a job of walking dogs? To be honest, I can barely imaginewhat kind of person would hire you to walk the dog."
There came another cheerful barking from the phone, then,Finch’s voice sounded,” Don’t be too much surprised, actually my employer isvery good, a handsome dog-loving person, he pays me $100 a day.”
“Well, you are a lucky dog.”
“Leave that Fudleyman alone. There should be a lot of goodmen and bad men who want to teach a liar a lesson. Samantha, you’d better come back to New Yorkearlier. I remembered you had said that Ms. Shaw would be very busy during thistime.”
“Yah, Sameen is indeed very busy, and she is unhappy with meon this journey.”
“So, come back. Howmuch have you been cheated? I will let Global Insurance pay you. “
However, it didn’t cheer Root up even she had thisconversation with her Uncle Harold. In fact, she had a worse mood when she hungup and walked out of the room, seeing Sameen sitting with Reese and drinking.
The Mr. Keller doesn’t seem to be a talking-and-laughingperson, but he apparently got along with Sameen very well for now. Kellersmiled and asked, “Ms. Shaw, you are no doubt a person who would enjoyromance, in the early spring of Vienna,don’t you plan to take your Lady Sweet going out for a walk in the suburbs?”
“You mean Schönbrunn Palace, Princess Sissi?"
“It is a good place. I heard that Princess Sissi is always adream of girls. I don't know if you are interested in, but Lady Sweet wouldprobably be very glad to go there."
“Well, I actually want to go too.”
“Then go.” Reese raised his glass and drank the whiskeyinside, "Don't follow the damn fat old man anymore", of course, thesecond half of the sentence was silently said. Afterwards, Root came over withquick steps and a bad face, Sameen Shaw stood up and looked at her,"Mr.Keller just suggested that we should go to the suburbs for a walk. I think thisis a good idea."
"Okay, we’re going tomorrow."
"Samantha, that Mr. Keller is a good man, I have toadmit that I have a little biased against him on the flight."
“You may still be no wrong, he looks indeed like a dangerousman, a killer or something, God knows.”
"But this does not prevent him from being veryattractive. He seems to be familiar with Europe."
"Oh, well, let's go to Princess Sissi’s place tomorrow,and don't repeat the European stories of Mr. Keller, Sameen, now I'm sorry topique for you on the plane."
The young couple finally got out of their contradiction,thanks to John Reese, the true killer.
Reese returned to his room after ending the conversationwith the girls. Then, he remembered Bear once again. When he went out of townfor work last time, Bear stayed in a dog hotel. At that time, Reese didn'tthink of Bear so much, but this time, Reese couldn't help planning to call to him.
Perhaps it was the Hotel InterContinental that reminding Reeseof his past life. Thinking by this way, it may be fortunate for Kara’s notcoming, because there would be no different from the past if Kara was also here.
No, not really, at least Reese now had a dog.
At last, Reese called to Bear. Of course he wouldn't use the hotel's phonebecause it leaves unnecessary marks. He used a disposable mobile phone anddialed into the reserved telephone in his apartment. No one answered.
It’s funny. You cannot expect Bear picking up the phone andsay hello, except that he can only erect his ear and listen to the ring bell.However, at least Bear can hear the ringtone, and he might know that this washis master's call back, the dog must be very happy. For now, Bear can be not athome, he was taken out for a walk by Finch, even Finch might have run with thedog.
Reese felt that the more he was thinking, the more absurdthere would be. It must be the issues that caused by jet lag. After a while, he finally covered his quiltand slept.
Early in the next morning, Reese sat two seats behindFudleyman in a diagonally direction. Fudleyman gorged as if he was a beast. Heate too much meat, too much salt as well as too much sugar, and he also smokedheavily. Seeing the big belly when thefat old guy got up and went out to smoke, Reese can’t help thinking thatperhaps it doesn’t need him to do it at all, because Fudleyman would be sooneror later summoned to God by high blood pressure and high cholesterol, maybewith lung cancer together.
Except that time would be the problem. The customer ofMark’s beautiful house in Yonkers will certainly not wish that Fudleyman couldlive till the day of his natural death. Someone wishes this fat old guy diedasap. Thus, Reese wiped his hands with the napkin carefully after finishing hisbreakfast, and decided to make it happen today.
Reese pushed over the chair and stood up. He walked towardsthe restaurant door, passing by the seat of Fudleyman. The green-eyed mistressgave a gaze to our Mr. Handsome when the old man was absent. The pretty womanshowed a seductive smile, looked not innocent anymore.
Reese pretended not to notice that. In fact, he didn’t caremuch about what the mistress would do. He planned to follow Fudleyman all day,to find an opportunity doing it. It should not be like a one-gun-shot style,because Reese didn’t want to engage in that eye-catching way. “American richman got shot in Vienna, suspected of a professional killer”, which would not bethe story that Reese want to read from local newspaper or website, he preferredto make everything look more like an accident.
Professional habits, you know that CIAs are usually doingtheir work outside the United States, so they must be cautious. And the mostfunny part is that, once they return, they will be more cautious, because theyare not allowed doing the work within the United States at all, isn't it?
Damn, Reese felt very uncomfortable about what he suddenlyremembered. He shook his head, tried to drive the bad feelings out, then he satin the hotel lobby, waiting for Fudleyman to appear again.
Fudleyman and his mistress returned to their room afterbreakfast. After half an hour, the mistress appeared in the lobby. But thingsdidn’t look good for Reese, the mistress actually hung around with the girlcouple and they showed up together. When they came out from the elevator, Rootstared at the earrings of Miss Mistress, “Luna, your earrings look so pretty, Ithink Sameen can have a try of the same paragraph.”
“We are going to the suburbs today, Luna, what aboutyou?"
"Frank didn't have a plan. We don’t have anything to doduring the day, maybe going to the museum. At night we had made an appointmentto watch a modern opera."
"A modern Opera? What is that, something like Cat?"
"I don’t know, but I do know that the taste of an oldguy is usually strange." Miss Mistress shrugged, "Maybe I should alsolet him take me to the suburbs during the day, only that way I can have themood to accompany him for the "Cat" opera at night."
Don’t, don’t make things being complicated.
Reese cursed his bad luck of this time. On one moment, hecouldn’t help but want to call to Kara to complain, finally he held back andnow was driving slowly after Fudleyman’s car, keeping an appropriate distancefrom the fat old man. Yes, Fudleyman took his mistress going to the suburbs,too.
Reese looked down at his watch, it was not yet 10 o’clockfor now. He dialed a phone call to his apartment, but hung up immediately oncethe ring bell sounded. He didn’t mean to wake up Bear. It was all because of thathe damn forgot there was a thing called time zone, and now in New York, it wasprobably not yet 4 in the morning.”
“Don't worry, Frank is not interested in Princess Sissi, buthe will try not to be an obstacle to me." Miss Mistress said this to Rootand Shaw in the lobby earlier. However, Root didn't care this at all, actuallyFudleyman the old cheater hadn’t never seen her in personal, despite he didcheat her for a lot of money. Shaw stood beside, and couldn’t resist rollingher eyes to Root after hearing that the mistress decided to go to the suburbswith great enthusiasm. Half an hour later, the girls’ car were driving on theleft of Fudleyman, Shaw said to Root,” I really doubt if you are deliberate, evengoing the suburbs for a walk, you are still planning to swindle your moneyback, you’re terribly amazing.”
“It is purely coincidence. Now I’m thinking there may be alittle bit unusual for Mr. Keller also going out to the suburbs today.”
Root seemed to see Reese flashed by from the rearviewmirror, but after that, she and Shaw did never saw Mr. Keller and Mr. Keller’scar nearby. Shaw asked, “Samantha, do you have a little bit crush on Mr.Keller? Or should I say, I think you are also having a crush on Luna? Maybe Ishould go back to New York alone, trying not to become an obstacle to you.”
"Oh, dear Sameen, you know that Frank Fedleyman is theman I am the most interested in. I can't just let it go. Think about it, Me,the Root, actually was cheated by a stupid old man?!"
The girls drove to the Schönbrunn Palace, quarreling all theway. Shaw showed less interest to the Palace because of the bad mood, whileRoot was definitely not much better. They didn’t take long to “encounter” Luna,with Fudleyman beside. The old man’s hairstyle was blown worse by the wind inthe suburbs, all made the atmosphere there not good.
Reese appeared in time and saved girls from being awkward,”Hey, Ms. Shaw, what a coincidence to meet you here, and your sweet ladySamantha. “
Shaw and Root didn’t know if there was an illusion, but theyboth thought Mr. Keller’s way of speaking was a bit different from before,slightly frivolous and more like flirting. Shaw started to feel uneasy,fortunately Reese quickly turned his attention to Fudleyman and the mistress.He asked Root,” Samantha, is this your friend?”
Reese is apparently asking of Miss Mistress. And themistress answered with a sweet smile before Root start speaking, “Luna, my nameis Luna, Mr., I think we had met in Hotel InterContinental just this morning,at the restaurant.” She said.
"Oh, that's true, ma'am," Reese pretended workinghard to recall, by the way showing some appropriate surprise, then he gave hisname, Keller, of course Keller. Then, he glanced at Fudleyman who stood beside,"Luna, are you traveling with your father? It seems that your accent isalso American."
As he thought, the old man was blown up to furious.
Things up there was as embarrassing as Reese expected. Reeseapologized and then found a reason to leave. Before leaving, he happened toshow the girls and Luna some pictures that he just taken, looking likeunintentionally. “There is the zoo not far behind. They have three pandasliving there, the two of them are no more than 1 year old, they are reallycute."
“Dear God, they are so adorable. Mr. Keller, I didn’t knowyou are an animal lover!” Root finally gave her comments.
"My wife loves them, she used to be a huge fan of theselittle cuties."
"Oh? I can't tell that you are married." Shawsaid.
"Well, for now I am not in a state of marriage, my wifehad left me forever since a few years ago."
"Oh, sorry, I am sorry."
"It's okay, girls. Go to watch the pandas. Jess, I meanmy wife could have been watching them all day long, let's say the fluffy littlebears can sometimes make you feel calm."
Reese suggested the girls to go watching pandas, of course hewas on purpose. He also suggested Fudleyman and Luna going to the zoo forpandas. "Mr. Fudleyman, I think Luna will also love pandas, if it is notin a hurry this afternoon, I might stay there for a whole day."
Fudleyman would not listen to Reese, but the mistress wasgoing with Root and Shaw for pandas. Very good, the spot is clear.
There was no problem even with Fudleyman also going to thezoo. Reese was sure that the old fat guy would sooner or later come out for histreatment using nicotine. In fact, when Reese learned that the mistress decidedto come here together, he knew that Schönbrunn Palace would not be a good placeto avoid for irrelevant people anymore. Fortunately, there are pandas who areadorable.
Reese made it happen to Fudleyman in an out-of-way place,kind like those with a label of "smoking can finally be permitted"place, outside the zoo, clean and quiet. Then he drove back to the city center,he already told the girls, he would be in a hurry in the afternoon.
It was in the afternoon when Fudleyman was found dead. Andit is true that people can easily be immersed in the calmness that created bythe fluffy little bears. When Luna had thought of Fudleyman, it was at least 2hours past since the poor old man breathed his last.
Acute cerebral hemorrhage leading to a fall, with a bruiseon the arm. It is expected that the heart had stopped beating in a very shorttime. He did not have the time to call for help, or he did have called forhelp, but no one knew.
The perfect accidental death.
Luna was questioning by the police, "Jesus, I said thathe ate too much salt and meat. He even smokes!"
"Of course he is not my husband, but the old guy isalways too jealous."
"Who knows, even I just say hello to a handsome man, hecould be angry enough to have a heart attack."
"I asked him to accompany me to watch the cute pandas,but he wanted to smoke. How terrible he was!"
"Oh, poor old Frank," the mistress finally shedtears. "He is pretty good to me, except for giving me the fake diamonds.”
For the sudden death of Fudleyman, Shaw gave no comments.However, it was a bit exceed Root’s expectations. Despite this, Root didn’taccount the old liar’s death as an accident.
It didn’t take the girls much time to go back to the HotelInterContinental after learning that the old man had passed away. When enteringthe door, Root saw Reese checking out at the Hotel Reception, with no luggageby his side but the Mr. Handsome was apparently ready to go. Reese looked backand saw both girls, he came over after expressing his thanks to the receptionstaff, asking Shaw, "Is it fun to watch pandas?"
"Of course, they can't be cute anymore."
"Well, there is another place where you should takeyour sweet lady to go," said Reese, who picked one from those brochureswhich introducing local excursions at reception. He handed the booklet to Shawwith his gloved hands, “Votive Cathedral, built for thanking God”. Mr. Handsomesaid as he walked towards the gate, and squinted at Root before leaving thedoor, ”you won’t waste your time.”
Reese drove directly to Schwechat, on the way, he made acall to his apartment in New York, he believed that Bear should be awake atthis moment.
After the phone rang four times, someone actually answered,"Mr. Reese?"
It was Finch's voice showing a little bit restless, and Reeseasked, "Finch?"
Reese didn’t expect that Finch would be there. He swearsthat he dialed this phone without any meaning of surveillance of hisemployee. In fact, Finch at the otherend of the phone didn’t noticed the surveillance thing at all, he rushed toapologize, "Mr. Reese, I guess it may be that you called back. I didn'tmean to listen to your call. I know that you could be a very privateperson."
“It’s okay, I just called to hear Bear’s voice.”
So Finch let Bear barked to the phone receiver, Reese smiledand hung up.
You have to say that when you go out, it feels good that someonecould pick up your call at home.
Reese bought the most recent ticket back to New York, thistime for Air France, stopping by Paris.
More than 2 hours later, Reese, who shuttled among differentterminals at Charles de Gaulle Airport, remembered to call Kara. Paris in theearly spring, um, if Kara came together, maybe they would stay in Paris for afew more days, just like before.
They are actually no different from the old days. Reesethought that John Reese might have a different career only if Jessica didn’tdie, but now, taking money, helping people out of their trouble that theycouldn’t speak out, which seems no bad at all.”
Kara’s phone was connected, and the signal came from theVoIP phone at Charles de Gaulle Airport, “John, I know it is you.”
"Of course it is me, Kara, actually I should acceptyour suggestion this time, you should come together."
"Hah, Paris in the early spring, is that right?"
"It seems that you really understand me, everythinggoes well, I have enough time to be drunk in Paris in the early spring."
“Well, the customer has received the death of the target.Mark just mentioned it, clean and neat, seems to be a real accident, a heartattack?"
"Maybe it is a real accident. He eats too much salt,too much meat, as well as smokes too much."
"Come on, John, even the customer knows that this can'tbe a real accident. What have you done?"
"I said something that could make him angry, forexample, he looked like his girlfriend's father, which made his blood pressurerise, and then, a small tube of vasoconstrictor, it was as simple asthat."
"Oh, it turned out to be a cerebral hemorrhage, so isthere a needle eye on the body?"
"It happens to have a bruise on the arm, which causedby falling down."
"Well, you are still cautious. In fact, no one willcheck it. Not to mention that they can't find you."
"Thanks for your compliment."
Kara at the other end of the phone suddenly laughed."John, do you know? The customer just called to thank for our profession.Mark seemed no happy after hanging up. The bald muttered, who are we, how canit be unprofessional? ”
"We are ex-CIAs."
"We were already stars on the Langley wall."
Then they both stopped and didn't talk anymore. After awhile, Kara said, "John, don't forget to come to Yonkers to drink ice teawhen you come back."
“My pleasure”, John replied.
Reese got off the plane at JFK. It was already 11 pm at NewYork time. When he took a taxi back to Manhattan, it was almost in the earlyhours of the morning, but his apartment was still lit.
Reese inserted the key into the keyhole, and when he openedthe door, Finch jumped like a frightened rabbit. "Mr. Reese? Oh, bad, Ididn't expect you to come back today."
Bear had been snoring at Finch's feet. Now that Reese isback, he immediately slams into Reese's side, screaming at him cheerfully.
"Mr. Reese, I stayed here just to take care of Bear. Iam a bit reluctant to leave Bear alone in the apartment. You know that he isvery pitiful when he rolls.”
“Oh, I don't want to deceive you. I was here yesterday. Islept for one night, but you can rest assured that I have never touched yourbed. In fact, the couch is good."
"God, since you are back now, then I will leave."
"Mr. Reese, I hope you are not angry, I have no otherintentions."
"Oh, I have to go."
Finch’s words suddenly became too much, which is hard tobelieve even for himself, and Reese, who had been standing by the door, had noexpression at first, then he raised his hand and let Bear return to his kennel,and laughed unconsciously. “Relax, Finch, I didn't blame you. Of course you canstay if you want, I am very happy that Bear can rely on you."
Reese's words made Finch take a sigh of relief. In fact, hereally took a long sigh of relief. Then he took up his coat from the couch,"Mr. Reese, I am very grateful that you treat my unprofessional behaviorwith tolerance, I think I’d better go."
"Finch, I said that you are welcome to stay, since youthink the couch is comfortable enough. Besides, it is very cold and not safeoutside. You may have already guessed that I have just experienced a long trip,I’m not sure if I want to drive you back for now."
Reese's words made Finch feel a bit strange. Apparently, Mr.Handsome was laughing at him, the middle-aged dog walker, who would have noself-protection ability at midnight in New York. However, Finch listened toReese’s words and stayed for some reasons that he even didn’t know.
Unfortunately, the staying was only a beginning. In fact, itwas so bad that Finch didn’t even sleep on the couch on that night.
This all blamed Bear. Just a few days, he has got sofamiliar with Finch and couldn’t decide if he was supposed to stuck at hisowner's feet or nestled around Finch. Bear screamed in a small voice, whichmade Finch making gestures getting the dog back to Reese. As to Reese, he wasvery sleepy after the long journey. Mr. Killer lie straight into the bed aftertaking a hot shower. He may have been asleep for a little while.
Reese was upset by Bear’s whispering, but he couldunderstand the poor dog suffering a choice disorder. Reese must be too sleepy. Anyway,Mr. Handsome reluctantly moved to one side of the bed and then said to Finch,"Mr. Finch, you can sleep here if you don't mind, the bed is large enough,and don't let the puppy bark again."
Reese’s voice was all along low and charming, and now withslightly vague because of the drowsiness, which indeed made Finch felt too muchembarrassing.
Finch moved to Reese's bed and sat upright. He thought thathe would spend all the night figuring out how to quit his job tomorrow, but onthat night, he probably only counted the long eyelashes of Mr. Handsome for awhile, and then fall asleep in the snoring of Bear.
The next morning, Finch felt almost frustrated to findhimself wake up after Reese. He even wasn’t sure what kind of expressions hehad at the time, when Reese stood in front of him with his collars opening atwill and asked him what breakfast he wants. He should ask for resign, but hedidn’t make it, because of Bear. At last, he heard Reese say to him, “Finch,don’t forget to come this Friday.”
Finch was sure that he must have nodded. Oh, Jesus, he feltthat he was simply too silly.
On Friday afternoon, Finch sneaked into Reese's apartmentlike a thief. Reese wasn't there, Bear rushed over. Finch was relieved when hesaw only Bear in the apartment, with some other complex emotions coming up inhis mind, which even himself may not realize.
When Finch walked Bear in the park, he received a call fromRoot. "Uncle Harold, Sameen and I will come back at New York tonight, wecan have dinner together, gonna to tell you a wonderful story."
“Well, I am free tonight.” Finch answered, seems not thathappy. He was not sure if he wants to listen to Samantha’s story, he has hadsome trouble for himself these days.
“"Cheer up, Harold. Did you know that the old villain Fudleymandied? saying it was an accident."
“That’s good. You no longer need to waste your time with himin the future.”
“Hah, I’m telling you that it cannot be an accidental death,I am sure the old villain was killed by a tall cool and handsome guy."
"Samantha, you must have been in your delusions again."
"This is not a delusion. Sameen is also convinced thata Mr. tall cool & handsome we met on the plane cleaned up the old villain. Thegentleman claimed to be Keller, God knows if he is suggesting that he is actuallya Killer. Well, see you tonight, there are more clues."
“All right.”
Hanging up the phone, Finch didn't care too much about Root,but the word “Mr. tall cool & handsome” has always kept flashing in hismind, huh, it sounds just like describing Reese.
Finch felt embarrassed that he suddenly thought of Reese, sothat he ended Bear's walk 15 minutes earlier that day and sent Bear back to theapartment. Fortunately, Mr. tall cool & handsome has not returned.
In fact, Finch didn’t have to worry about this, because Mr.tall cool & handsome wouldn’t be back till the evening, he went to Yonkersfor Kara’s ice tea.
In the evening, Shaw didn't come over to dinner with Root.Root said that Shaw had exploded because of the backlog of her work. It is better not to mess with her these days.Finch nodded, then, Root talked about what she called clues.
“He was also there before the Fudleyman died, and it seemsthat he had been trying to put me, Shaw and the mistress off from the oldvillain.”
“Sounds not convincing.”
“Yah, I know that those cannot be treated as evidence, buthe later asked Sameen to take me to the Votive Cathedral, which definitelymeans something.”
“Votive Cathedral? The Cathedral that built to thank God forsaving the Emperor's life from an assassination? “
“Yes, my Uncle Harold is always so erudite! Harold, thinkabout it, he let us go to the Cathedral, which might suggest us to thank God,for that we didn't hinder him from killing, and thus to save our own lives.”
"I still think you are in your delusions. Maybe thehandsome gentleman is only enthusiastic to recommend you to the sights ofVienna."
“No, the Mr. tall cool & handsome has nothing to do withenthusiasm. You’ll know what I’m talking about if you can have a meet with him.At that time, he handed Sameen the booklet with gloves, ah, he was so cleverand didn’t want to leave his fingerprints at all! Speaking of this, If I have his fingerprint,I’m sure I will try to locate him. ”
"Samantha, you need to find a serious job."
"What do you mean by serious job? Harold, unless youturn your machine out and let me try to fix it, or else, do you think that Ishould walking dogs for someone just as you?"
“Samantha, it is good and not easy to walk a dog.”
Finch thought that Samantha had delusions again. When hecame back home, he said to himself that it was not easy to walk a dog , andthen suddenly remembered that on that day, there seemed something like half ofa candle fallen from Reese’s coat pocket, a church candle which was delicate, engravedwith a string of letters that are not in English.
At that time, Finch was a bit out of state because ofReese’s sudden return. He thought that the letters on candle was Dutch, or hedidn’t care about it all, but now think about it…
"Don't eat that," Reese stopped Bear at the time.He probably said something to Finch after taking the candle, "Sometimes I puta candle in the church that I pass through, for some dead people."
But Finch didn't quite understand why he brought back acandle that day. After a little while, the computer genius recalled the line onthe candle, start with the letter V, seemed to be German, will it be"Votivkirche", which means Votive Cathedral?a
Fin.